Thursday, October 1, 2015

Unsubstantiated claims about common core tests

Sent to US News, October 1, 2015

Contrary to Scott Sargrad's claims ("Tests can be golden," September 30), there is no evidence that the common core tests are a "more rigorous and honest look at students' performance." All the recent California results showed is that the new tests are harder. As education expert Alfie Kohn has repeatedly pointed out, harder does not necessarily mean better.

There is also no evidence for Sargard's claim that passing the common core high school test means a student is better prepared for college. No study has been done showing a correlation between common core test performance and college success, nor, to my knowledge, are any such studies planned.

Stephen Krashen

Original article: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/knowledge-bank/2015/09/30/california-colleges-are-realizing-common-cores-promise

Twitter exchange: 1. I sent link to my letter to Scott Sargrad via twitter.2. His response: @skrashen @JoanneSWeiss CCSS developed based on college readiness and 232 colleges agree tests show readiness, incl entire Cal State system3. My response: @scottsargrad @JoanneSWeiss The 232 colleges took a vote? "Looks good to us."? Please provide link to methodology.4. His second response: @skrashen @JoanneSWeiss See all the higher ed agreements for PARCC http://bit.ly/1MK5TsR and SBAC http://bit.ly/1Gl1O9H5. My second response. @scottsargrad @JoanneSWeiss Thank you for the links. The colleges agreed to use them, but there is no data showing validity.

In other words: "No study has been done showing a correlation between common core test
performance and college success, nor, to my knowledge, are any such
studies planned."

Scott Sargrad is the director for standards and accountability on the education policy team at Center for American Progress. Prior to joining American Progress, Sargrad served as the deputy assistant secretary for policy and strategic initiatives in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education at the U.S. Department of Education.Joanne Weiss, included in this exchange, is Former Chief of Staff at U.S. Department of Education.These are Arne Duncan people. I am surprised and happy that Mr. Sargrad responded to me.